Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Rudy T and hopes he coaches for many years to come, but my man is not a good coach. Back in the days of Hakeem the Dream and illegal defences, all Rudy would do is stand on the sideline and when the ball was kicked down to the Dream he would scream out "Illegal! Illegal!" That was about it. Now a days, he just walks up and down the sideline using body english to make shots go in for the Rockets and rim out for the opposing teams. But like most people on this thread, I have to say that Rudy T is a GREAT people person. All current and former Rocket players love him to death. When college players come to work out or FA come to visit, they just rave about the guy. He creates teams w/ such great chemistry it makes it hard for players to leave and hard for us fans to say goodbye to them. For example, I know we need to let go of the Wizard and if we could make a deal involving Moochie & Mo T for Rishard Lewis we should do it, but it looks like they have so much fun together & work so well together I'm reluctant to make those moves. All Rudy Needs is a Tex Winter type guy to come and take over the offensive X's & O's and he can take all the credit like Phillip Jackson.
What would you rather he yell out on the sideline? If you think that all coaching is is yelling out instructions to players during the course of a game, you're sorely mistaken. Do you attend Rockets practices? Do you eavesdrop on the huddles during timeouts? If the answer is no, you don't really know much about Rudy's coaching. Phil Jackson rarely says a single word during the course of a game, and usually just sits on his ass. I assume you think he's not a good coach either.
I don't know if this story is true, or even if my interpertation of the facts is correct, but When UCLA was winning everything... John Wooden was the coach and Bill Walton was the star player. I can't remember exactly but I think the Walton led team won one or two championships then lost when heavily favored. Wooden was very conservative, but Walton and the team were often outspoken about VietNam and such. There came a point in the losing championship game where things were starting to go out of control for UCLA and the players looked to the bench expecting Wooded to call a time out and calm everything down. The coach looked back and pointedly did not call the desperatly needed time. His point was, you guys are doing it your way, don't look to me now. He was willing to give up a championship in order to let the kids learn. I don't know what this has to do with anything. I guess it is a story about long-term thinking. Knowing your base is solid and worrying about the others around you. Maybe it's a story about what makes excellance. I think it is interesting story, I hope it is true.
DCKid I'm not hating on Rudy I love him but he is not an X's & O's guy and neither is Jackson. They both know how to motivate and get the most out of their players. Phil has others to work on the offense & the D and Rudy could use some assistants like that. I just wish they would run some plays here and there. I have a friend who works for the Rockets and he goes to the practices and he says they work on individual skills more than team stuff like ball movement and it shows when they play. I had season tickets & a sattelite so I watched virtually every game last year. Do they have a lot of ball movement? No. Do they run a lot of plays? No. What they do do is play their @$$es off & never give up. THAT is were Rudy excells and that is why I like him as a coach.
There are many good/great coaches in the league, but a coach is only as good as his players. Simple as that. Phil Jackson, Tex Winter, and the gang sure as hell wouldn't have made the Warriors contenders with the recent linups of the past few years. Same as I believe that Larry Brown or Paul Silas could have coached the Lakers to championships........not taking anything away from the success of Phil and the crew.
Dr. Robert I agree with you and back RT to the hilt! Williams and Pippin are samples of his week side, that of being too loyal. He never saw that Pippin was in turmoil for a long time with Sir Charles and he kept playing Walt when he made so many silly defensive mistakes. This coming season he must have a clear head at all the games. There are so many things to watch, protect and employ with all the new players and new style of game. ('')
